$353,000 in repairs to begin at Kidd Springs Park

Construction on two major repair projects totaling about $353,000 are expected to begin soon at Kidd Springs Park.

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The two projects will repair an enormous underground culvert, bring the dam up to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality standards and improve the shoreline around the pond.

The most expensive piece is repairing the giant culvert, which will cost $208,000, from 2006 bond funds.

There is limestone about 4-5 feet beneath the soil at Kidd Springs. Many decades ago, a drainage culvert 8 feet wide and 6 feet deep was cut into the limestone, and the culvert was capped with a 4-foot concrete arch. The City of Dallas discovered a few years ago that part of the arch had collapsed, and further investigation found that parts of the limestone walls had eroded.

That’s when the city erected that unsightly chain-link fencing just west of the pool; it’s been there for three years now as a precaution against potential sinkholes. But it will be removed later this year if all goes as planned. Work is expected to begin this month, and it could be completed in October.

Dam and shoreline

The second project, costing around $145,000, also from 2006 bond funds, involves bringing the dam up to the state’s standards and improving the pond shoreline.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality identified the Kidd Springs Park dam as needing improvements.The dam will be restored, and repairs will be made to the spillway and the bridge that runs across it.

The city also is taking the opportunity to make improvements to the shoreline, which is badly eroded. Plans to shore it up and prevent further erosion are now being finalized, and the city is expected to call for bids on the project around the end of March, says Richard Stauffer, a Park and Recreation Department engineer.

The Kidd Springs Master Plan calls for removing that big pipe in the pond, which is fed by the springs and replacing it with a water rill. Financing for that has not yet been identified.

Add to that the $4.5-million pool coming in 2018, and in a couple of years, Kidd Springs Park will be all new.